A Nightmare on Elm Street: Fear of Death
by imfeelingthis182
Summary: A rewrite of my previous story with the same title...For some reason almost everyone forgot what happened in Springwood those many years ago. Except now people are starting to remember. A young girl must remember to save her future. Will she be able to?
1. Note from the Author

_**I am not associated with the Nightmare on Elm Street series in any way. All credit goes to Wes Craven and New Line Cinema.**_

I am enjoying rewriting this, but it has been hard for me to get back into the focus of the story. I'm sorry for the delay, but I'm not sure when I will be able to update. Please review. If there is something you don't like or anything you do like please say so. It could really help. If you wish you can send me an email at: with any ideas or comments. I didn't back the story into a corner and I know it has potential. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do with it anymore. Once again, if you have any ideas please email me. Thanks and I hope you enjoy the story so far. Have a nice day!

Caramel


	2. Prologue

It all came to me in a dream. More like a nightmare, actually. There was a bad vibe all around. Electricity seemed to spark in the air.

Suddenly, his dark and lanky figure loomed in the hallway. I could see his piercing eyes that appeared to stare into my very soul. The soul in which my darkest secrets and fears were being withheld.

The silvery blades on his gloved hand glinted in the dim light.

I was worried, but not scared. My ignorance of who he was...what he was...and what he stood for stopped that specific emotion. The emotion that betrays us all.

Fear.

Fear of Death.


	3. The Past

I awoke to find myself soaked in sweat and breathing hard. I could not remember my dream, but something had seriously bothered me.

You see I am a bit paranoid, but I've never gotten that worked up over a dream I couldn't even remember at the moment.

My name is Shannon Wilder and I've been in a mental institution for the past two years.

That is up until today. Today I get out. They told me I'm "cured". Whatever that means.

About three years ago, Valley Springs, my hometown, started getting weird radio transmissions from a place about an hour down the road. What was it called? Oh yeah, Springwood.

I heard they kept screaming some name over the radio. (Pretty crazy if you ask me.) Well, a few days later kids started acting crazy here, too. Lasted like that for a year.

I remember the day they took me. The night before I had complained of bad dreams to my parents.

Next morning, I find out they called the doctors at Valley Springs Institution for Ill-Minded Young Adults (Nice ring to it, huh?) and they "advised I attend their program for a little while".

Well, it turns out a "little while" means about two years.

I just can't imagine how everything has changed. I wonder if there are still crazed people running around.

Crazy people yelling his name. What was his name? Was he in my dream? I'm so confused.

The medication the doctors gave me is supposed to stop me from dreaming. Stop me from...remembering?


	4. Back Home

I get outside the facility and feel the cool autumn breeze on my face.

Freedom.

I had to walk home, because they couldn't get a hold of my parents. I guess they forgot.

After twenty minutes of walking through the familiar, winding neighborhoods I was home.

I stood on the front steps. I thought about knocking, but decided to just go in. Technically, I do still live here.

I find two people in my living room. One is my mother and the other is a guy who looks vaguely familiar.

Suddenly, I remember. He worked at Valley Springs! He's the guy who put me in solitary for a month, because I asked why we all take the same medicine.

"What is he doing here?" I said with a look of pure hatred on my face.

My mother had a dazed look.

"Oh, honey. I forgot you were getting...out today."

Great, make it seem like I was in prison. Close, though.

"You still didn't answer my question."

"Doctor Campbell was just here...uh...he stopped by on his way home."

"Where's Dad?" I asked with a challenging smile.

My mother turned bright red.

"We divorced a year ago," she whispered quickly.

I wasn't expecting that. I didn't know what to say. So, I just put my medicine in a cabinet and went upstairs to my room.

I soon fell asleep.


	5. The Dream

I was immediately transported to a scorching hot boiler room. One that reeked of death and decay.

I had such strong senses that I couldn't tell if I was awake or asleep.

Then, a voice boomed from nowhere in particular.

"So, Daddy dearest has decided to ditch you, too? Poor little baby. What a shame!"

Whatever it was started to laugh. An evil laugh that sent chills down my spine.

I decided to start looking around.

That coward. I wasn't ashamed. My parents and I were never close. Or I wouldn't have gone to that awful institution.

There wasn't much to tell about the place.

Rats, pipes, some more rats, and some more pipes. Pretty boring besides the voice, and the fact it was probably one hundred degrees in here.

The lanky figure abruptly appeared in the dark. He was closer this time, but I still couldn't make out his features.

"Wanna see true fear, kid?" he asked.

The question must have been rhetorical, because he immediately stepped forward.

His face was heavily burnt. He wore black pants, a red and green Christmas- like sweater, and a dusty brown fedora. His one hand was gloved with sharp, thin blades on each fingertip. In a way he looked a bit comical, but I was still scared.

He disappeared for a moment, and then reappeared right in front of me.

My arm was sliced with one quick movement.

I screamed, and woke up on the floor. My arm was still bleeding!

I heard them running up the stairs. They couldn't know! I wasn't going back!

They burst in.

"What happened?" the doctor questioned.

"Was it a bad dream?" my mother asked a bit too eagerly.

"No," I replied with a nonchalant expression, "Just fell, and hit my arm on the nightstand. Nothing serious."

I put on a phony smile, and hoped that they didn't see through my lies.

They nodded with identical grim looks. I guess they really want me to go back.

"That makes the three of us," a scratchy voice boomed in my head.


	6. Discovery

I waited in my room until I heard them go back downstairs. I went to the bathroom to clean up my arm. It had almost stopped bleeding, but it still hurt.

How did my cut become real? It was just a dream, wasn't it?

It didn't feel like a dream. It doesn't even seem like I went to sleep. I'm more tired than ever.

I had a feeling of déjà vu while cleaning my arm. It was as if I had done it before. Or I had imagined myself doing it. I shook it off and went downstairs.

My mother and the doctor were gone.

I went into the kitchen and got my medicine out of the cabinet.

Hypnocil Plus. Plus what, I don't know.

I washed it down with some coffee, and went over to my laptop in the next room.

I had to find out what had happened in Springwood.

What had happened to...me.

I searched the internet for about an hour, and didn't find anything. It was as if everything had been covered up. Why else would something high profile be so hard to find?

A few minutes later a site came up full of school newspaper articles.

"SPRINGWOOD SLASHER: KILLER OF 20-30 CHILDREN" was the title of an article from September 1968.

I skimmed through the gruesome details...

ESTIMATED TO ABOUT 20-30 CHILDREN DEAD...

KILLER NOT YET FOUND...

I soon found another one dated two years and one month later.

"SUSPECT LET GO TO TECHNICALITY"

FREDDY KRUEGER...

INSUFFICIENT DOCUMENTATION...

Some more articles popped up on my screen.

"DEATH DUE TO SEVERE BURNS"

I got the chills remembering his scalded skin.

"COPYCAT SLASHER ON THE LOOSE"

"LOCAL CLAIMS HE'S BACK"

"DREAM DEMON HAUNTING LOCAL TEENS"

Then, it was as if everything had disappeared. No more stories. Springwood was normal. A nice place to live with friendly neighbors. However, I found their mistake.

"RE-OPENING OF PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL"

It seems as though Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital had some 'staff problems that got fixed right away'.

That didn't make any sense. The dates on the article would amount to ten years.

Ten years for 'staff problems'?

I guess all crazy houses don't have any concept for time.


	7. Questions

I printed out all of the articles I had found, and sat on the couch to wait for my mother.

She came in full of laughter. She saw my face, and stopped.

"Anything wrong? Is your arm okay?" she tried to ask innocently.

"Like you care!"

"Of course, I care! I sent you there for your own good! You should be happy!" she screamed.

I just smiled. I loved making her feel guilty. Now for the best part.

"Mom, I'm so sorry. I've been through so much. It might be hard for you to notice, but I am happy," I said with a hint of sarcasm that I couldn't help, "Maybe we should go on a trip. Like a mini- vacation. To get to know each other again."

I even added one of my fake smiles.

She soaked it right up. Maybe she did want me to be happy?

"That would be great for us!" she exclaimed, "Any ideas on a place?"

"Maybe...Springwood? I heard it's a great neighborhood."

My mother went from a smile to a look of shock and anger so fast that she could have set a record. I tried so hard not to laugh.

"How do you know? How do you know about...that...place?"

"Doctor Campbell, of course. I know he worked at Valley Springs, but I could tell that you really didn't know I was being released. Why else would he be here?"

She gave me a dumb look like she didn't know what I was talking about.

"I knew you were lying about something. I looked some things up, and found out he works at Westin Hills. They, oddly enough, also supply their patients with Hypnocil products. Another weird thing is there were some odd killings there. Only a few school papers kept records of it. Killer was said to be-"

"No, don't say HIS name! Please, I'll tell you what I know! Just don't say his NAME!" she pleaded.

I soon realized she was really crying. This wasn't an act. The grin quickly slid off my face.

"W-We used to live in Springwood. My sisters and I-"

"You are such a liar! You actually had me going for a minute. Can you even tell the truth anymore?"

"I am telling you the truth! If you would listen!"

This was starting to get on my nerves. I had a headache from all of the yelling and screaming.

"Ok, but tell me the truth. All I want is the truth."


	8. The Hard Truth

"When I was about your age my family lived in Springwood. It was always a nice place. Until..."

She started to trail off.

"Mom?"

"Well, one day a lady came into town. She spoke of dreadful days. Horrible past events. No one believed her, besides my sisters and me. We were always the ones for trouble. Well, we decided to go to the archives, and look up the dates the woman had mentioned."

She paused for a moment.

"We weren't allowed in. A guard said that the archives were closed. We chose to sneak in that night. The articles we brought home were strange. Names, places, and pictures were blacked out. We just didn't understand. Loretta convinced my other sister, Alice, to go back, and see the lady. I didn't want to go. The woman scared me. They came back with a name. The next day the lady disappeared."

"Disappeared? But why?"

"We never found out."

"What about the name?"

"They wouldn't tell me, but I knew it was his name. The name you must never speak," she said with a quivering tone.

"Rumours started circling around at school. They said the stories the woman spoke of were real. I told my sisters I wanted out of our little investigation. Soon papers were being passed around. Telling the "true" story of what had happened those years ago. Everyone got scared. The adults announced that none of it was true. The school expelled my sisters for causing trouble."

"Expelled?"

"You don't understand. They told us it wasn't true, but they flinched whenever somebody spoke of it. They shivered when they saw the papers. Everyone was so scared. Then, the murders happened. Kids were _sliced_ to _pieces_. Blood _everywhere_. Some adults were dying, too. Most people were sent to Westin Hills. They went crazy. Soon it stopped. People forgot."

"Forgot? Forgot? How can you forget something like that?"

"I don't know. I can't remember everything myself."

"We have to go there. We have to find out what happened."

"Go back? What? Are you-"

"Crazy? No, I'm not crazy."

"We can't go back. The past has to stay buried."

"How do you remember now? _Why_ remember now?"

"Let it go. It's for the best."


	9. Unburied

The next morning seemed normal. I didn't have any strange dreams, and it seemed as though I was forgetting already.

I went downstairs to find my mother reading the newspaper.

Suddenly, she threw it down and ran upstairs.

I looked at the paper.

"TWO TEENS BRUTALLY MURDERED"

FOUND BY NEIGHBOR...

BLOOD EVERYWHERE...

WRITINGS ON THE WALL...

'HE'S COMING FOR YOU'...

'BETTER LOCK YOUR DOOR'...

I went upstairs into my mother's room. She was throwing clothes everywhere and packing.

"It's happening again. We're going. Pack your clothes."

"Going? Going where?"

"Springwood. We have to know."

Springwood? Where is that? She wasn't making any sense, but for some reason I decided to listen.

Fifteen minutes later we were ready to go.

"Promise me that whatever happens, and whatever you hear that you won't go after him."

"After who?"

"Just promise. He's coming back. The past is coming back. It isn't staying buried. Do you understand? Do you promise?"

I didn't understand, but I decided to humor her. That's what you do for the insane, right?

"I promise."

My mother was starting to scare me. Maybe she's hiding something?


	10. Final Note from the Author

Sorry this sounds repetitive if you have read the first a/n. I am trying to find time to work on the story. It just seems that I don't know where it is going anymore. I hope you liked what you have read and please review. If you can think of anything that you want to see happen it might give me events to add to the story. Thanks for reading this!

Caramel


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